Friday, December 19, 2014

My first post was on December 19, 2005. Wouldn't have put money on it lasting nine years.

The stats are steady but not growing. I usually occupy some position in the 30s when it comes to blog rankings in NZ and average around 200 visits a day.

So you'd wonder why I bother.

I continue to believe the welfare stuff is hugely important and pester MSD, read all their publications, monitor party policies, keep a watching brief on welfare reforms abroad and if I have something particularly interesting the goodwill of other bigger blogs (particular Whale Oil - thanks Cam) usually means I can get them to pick it up.

And thanks to my regular readers who often send me tidbits and comments off-blog. You in particular keep me going.

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Today Sean Plunket interviewed an amazing man called Terrance Wallace on Radio Live .

He is a black American raised by a single mother in Chicago, who has sent up a home for disadvantaged Maori and Pasifika young men that provides them with opportunities they would not have in their own communities.

According to Gordon Campbell a recent OECD report showed New
Zealand's "...economic policies have caused a significant rise
in income inequality" (Hutt News, December 16).

Income inequality grew during the late 1980s and early 1990s then
levelled off during the 2000s.

Over that period the structure of families, and gender participation
in the work force changed significantly. Single parent families
headed by females with no or low educational qualifications and/or
work experience increased significantly through to the turn of the
century before levelling off over the past few years. Many depend on
welfare and consequently form a large share of poor families.

At the same time, partnered woman increasingly either remained
working or returned to work earlier after childbirth.

In a nutshell, there are now more households with one work-less
parent, and more households with two working parents. The difference
between the the incomes of the two households is pronounced.

What the OECD report Campbell refers to said was that, "...active
labour market policies, childcare supports and in-work benefits" are
needed if increased economic growth is desired. This recognises that
children coming out of disadvantaged homes eg unemployed households,
need a working parent and better engagement with education from an
early age.

The welfare reforms instituted by the National government (and
Labour prior with the creation of the In Work Tax Credit) have gone
some way to fulfilling this goal but need to go much further.
Reducing welfare dependence would contribute enormously to reducing
inequality.

Lindsay Mitchell

Figure J.5 Inequality
in New Zealand and the OECD trend: the Gini coefficient

My
father, age 86, is on the final approach to the long dirt nap (to use
his own phrase). His mind is 98% gone, and all he has left is hours or
possibly months of hideous unpleasantness in a hospital bed. I'll spare
you the details, but it's as close to a living Hell as you can get.

If my dad were a cat, we would have put him to sleep long ago. And not once would we have looked back and thought too soon.

Because
it's not too soon. It's far too late. His smallish estate pays about
$8,000 per month to keep him in this state of perpetual suffering.
Rarely has money been so poorly spent.

I'd like to proactively
end his suffering and let him go out with some dignity. But my
government says I can't make that decision. Neither can his doctors. So,
for all practical purposes, the government is torturing my father until
he dies.

I'm a patriotic guy by nature. I love my country. But the government? Well, we just broke up.

And let me say this next part as clearly as I can.

If
you're a politician who has ever voted against doctor-assisted suicide,
or you would vote against it in the future, I hate your fucking guts
and I would like you to die a long, horrible death. I would be happy to
kill you personally and watch you bleed out. I won't do that, because I
fear the consequences. But I'd enjoy it, because you motherfuckers are
responsible for torturing my father. Now it's personal.

I know
that many of my fellow citizens have legitimate concerns about
doctor-assisted suicide. One can certainly imagine greedy heirs speeding
up the demise of grandma to get the inheritance. That would be a strong
argument if doctor-assisted suicide wasn't already working elsewhere
with little problems, or if good things in general (such as hospitals
and the police) never came with their own risks.

I'm okay with any citizen who opposes doctor-assisted suicide on moral or practical grounds. But if you have acted
on that thought, such as basing a vote on it, I would like you to die a
slow, horrible death too. You and the government are accomplices in the
torturing of my father, and there's a good chance you'll someday be
accomplices in torturing me to death too.

I might feel
differently in a few years, but at the moment my emotions are a bit raw.
If I could push a magic button and send every politician who opposes
doctor-assisted suicide into a painful death spiral that lasts for
months, I'd press it. And I wouldn't feel a bit of guilt because
sometimes you have to get rid of the bad guys to make the world a better
place. We do it in defensive wars and the police do it daily. This
would be another one of those situations.

I don't want anyone to
misconstrue this post as satire or exaggeration. So I'll reiterate. If
you have acted, or plan to act, in a way that keeps doctor-assisted
suicide illegal, I see you as an accomplice in torturing my father, and
perhaps me as well someday. I want you to die a painful death, and soon.
And I'd be happy to tell you the same thing to your face.

Note to my government:
I'll keep paying my taxes and doing whatever I need to do to stay out
of jail, but don't ask me for anything else. We're done now.

A reader sent through the above graph which was part of a brief article in the Economist (Britain).

The Economist commentary,

The government will surely be pleased with new figures showing that a
growing proportion of single mothers are in work. The percentage of
children living in workless families is at its lowest since 1996, when
records began. The reduction in income support for single working
parents since 2008 may have contributed to the shift. But the overall
rise conceals the fact that, compared with women who are part of a
couple, single mums are almost twice as likely to be in low-skilled—and
low-paid—jobs. And for some, especially lone parents, the price of child
care can still be a barrier to entering the workforce. All political
parties have promised to make it more affordable. But women are used to
being left holding the baby.

The NZ rate and trend is similar. The main driver is welfare reform, including the In Work Tax Credit.

Monday, December 15, 2014

I am underwhelmed by Andrew Little. Previously I've blogged about his lack of courage in turning away from a capital gains tax (which I don't want but concede there is significant support for on the left) and lifting the Super age - an issue that must be faced.

According to the NZ Herald he has now instructed Iain Lees-Galloway to drop the private voluntary euthanasia bill previously sponsored by Maryan Street.

A bill which would legalise voluntary euthanasia has been dropped by
Labour MP Iain Lees-Galloway at the request of his leader Andrew Little.
Mr
Lees-Galloway had been canvassing support for his End of Life Choice
Bill before deciding whether to return it to the private members' bill
ballot.
But Mr Little confirmed yesterday that he had told Mr
Lees-Galloway not to put it in the ballot because it was not an issue
Labour should be focused on when it was rebuilding.
"It comes down to priorities at the moment," Mr Little said. "We are very much focused on ... jobs and economic security.
"There
are more people affected by weak labour market regulation and weak
economic strategy than they are about the right to make explicit choices
about how they die."
The bill would have allowed any adult suffering
from a condition likely to cause their death within 12 months to
request medical assistance to die.

Mr Little said Labour was still a socially progressive party under his leadership.
"It's
not about avoiding controversy but it's about choosing the
controversies that are best for us at this point in time. That stuff on
euthanasia, it isn't the time for us to be talking about that."

This is dumb. When will the time be? When you've lost even more support from the older generations to NZ First? I've done the Grey Power meetings over two elections and know that this group is particular keen to address the issue.

It's not a politically smart move and it isn't a principled one either. Labour WAS the socially progressive party of ideas and reform. Not any more.

ACT should pick up the bill. ACT's philosophy champions the rights of the individual.

A paramount individual right is that of choosing to end one's own life without the state criminalising any other party who may have had knowledge or assisted.

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About Me

Lindsay Mitchell has been researching and commenting on welfare since 2001. Many of her articles have been published in mainstream media and she has appeared on radio,tv and before select committees discussing issues relating to welfare. Lindsay is also an artist who works under commission and exhibits at Wellington, New Zealand, galleries.